The present disclosure relates to a redundant backup device. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a redundant backup device that automatically preserves data written to a primary backup device, for example, a tape drive.
Businesses, governmental agencies, learning institutions, and other such concerns typically operate a plurality of computers that are connected to each other in a network. The network users often store data on the network, for instance, on the harddrives of network servers. In addition, users also typically store data on their host computers.
Often, data stored on the network and/or the host computers is backed up periodically (e.g., once every 24 hours) to create a copy of the data to prevent it from being lost due to mechanical failure, accidental deletion, and the like, and/or to form an archive of the stored data. Normally, xe2x80x9cbackupxe2x80x9d operations entail storing a copy of all or a portion of the data files on the network and/or host computers to a backup device such as a magnetic tape library that comprises a plurality of magnetic tape drives.
Where the network and the amount of data to be backed up is large, the backup process can be quite time consuming and can require substantial resources of a network and/or backup server. For this reason, backup operations often are conducted at night when network usage is smallest. Occasionally, malfunctions occur in the backup system that interrupt the backup process. For instance, where tape drives are used, a tape can break or become damaged so as to be rendered unusable. Alternatively, the drive in which a tape is housed can become dirty and can therefore cease to operate until cleaned. Less frequently, a tape drive can break and further backup operations cannot be carried out until the drive is replaced. In any one of these situations, human intervention is necessary to rectify the problem and reinitiate the backup process. Where the backup is performed at night, this may require a net administrator or other technician to come into the office (or other network location) during non-business hours. If such an administrator or technician does not attend to the problem, a complete backup of the network and/or host computer files may not take place. In that it often requires a relatively long period of time to complete a backup (e.g., approximately 2 to 8 hours per tape), there may not be enough time or network resources available to complete the backup operation the following day. In such instances, a complete backup is not performed and, should a network user lose data, the data may be permanently lost.
From the above, it will be appreciated that it would be desirable to have a redundant backup device that automatically rectifies backup system problems and resumes the backup operations such that a complete backup process can be completed without the need for human intervention.
The present disclosure relates to a redundant back up device. Through use of the device, a method for backing up information can be performed that comprises the steps of transmitting data to be backed up to a primary backup device and to the redundant backup device, writing the transmitted data to a writing medium contained within a writing device of the primary backup device, and simultaneous to the step of writing the transmitted data to the writing medium of the primary backup device, caching the transmitted data in a data storage device of the redundant backup device.
In one example embodiment of the invention, the system in which the redundant backup device is used comprises a backup server, a primary backup device comprising a writing device that contains a writing medium, and a redundant backup device connected to the backup server and the writing device of the primary backup device. The backup device has a data storage device that caches data transmitted from the backup server to the writing device.
The features and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.